Archive for August, 2010

There is a good chance that you need to send a birthday gift to a friend this month or next. According to the National Center for Health Statistics, more people in the United States have their birthdays in August than any other month, followed by July and September.

There is also a good chance that you need to send a birthday gift to a friend on October 5, which is the most popular birth date in the United States. (Rumor has it that New Year’s Eve is the conception date for those kids.)

While I’m on a roll, there is also a good chance that you need to send a birthday gift to a friend next Tuesday since Tuesday is the most popular day of the week for Americans to be born.

- Take your friends and family members down memory lane with the Blast From the Past Candy Gift Basket filled with full-size Mr. Goodbar and Zero bars, Sugar Babies, Dots, Bit-O-Honey, Twizzlers, Pixy Stix, candy buttons, and more.

- Make your birthday cards really memorable (and edible) by including a snack-sized bag of Jelly Belly Happy Birthday Jelly Beans or hand out these little bags of beans at your own birthday party.

Now back to mindless birthday stats … I just found out that I am 1,364,552,283 seconds old, I could have boiled 5.05 ounces of water with the number of candles on my 2010 cake, and that I was conceived on a Monday and born on a Monday. TMI? Definitely, but plug in your birth date at PaulSadowski.com/birthday.asp and you’ll get TMI, too.

I get that, but I took these super sweet and somewhat rubbery shot glasses in a more juvenile direction. (How many adults really want to eat a gooey gummy “glass” after downing a shot of Jäger? It’s a heck of a chaser.)

My craft project turned out to be something I would use as a kid’s party favor wrapped in cello and tied with a bow (Candy Land theme anyone?), or as eye candy on a candy buffet.

Per my 14-year-old neighbor’s brilliant suggestion, I also filled some of the shot glasses with whipped cream and topped them with fruit and sprinkles. I don’t think I’d serve these to guests older than 14, though, but they do look pretty on a tray.

I photographed some of my final products with my low-budget 35 mm, so my apologies in advance for the following lackluster visuals:

Now it’s your turn to think outside of the box. What would you fill these gummy shot glasses with?

In the event that you’re a curious cat like me when it comes to regional flavor preferences of the sweet variety, the Jelly Belly Candy Co. tracks its best selling jelly bean flavors by state and by country.

Some of the following top four flavors by country are predictable, and some are a bit surprising like America’s love of Buttered Popcorn and Licorice. According to Tomi Holt, director of communications for the Jelly Belly Candy Co., Licorice is always in the top three flavors in the US (it’s No. 1 in Alaska), which I find interesting. Licorice has never made it on the UK’s top three list. Even more interesting.

Within the United States, “Crushed Pineapple” is one of Hawaii’s top three favorite Jelly Belly bean flavors (shocker). There are some statewide surprises, though …

Connecticut
In Top 3: Tangerine

Idaho and Montana
In Top 3: Juicy Pear

Kansas, Georgia, and New Jersey
In Top 3: Sizzling Cinnamon

Kentucky
No. 1: Dr. Pepper

Maryland
No. 1: Bubble Gum
No. 2: Tutti-Fruitti

Rhode Island
In Top 3: French Vanilla

Washington D.C.
In Top 3: Blueberry

Jelly Belly’s Tomi Holt says the company often gets consumer requests for savory jelly bean flavors like hot dog, nacho, and hamburger. The “Barf” flavor (so unsavory) in Jelly Belly’s BeanBoozled line is actually a cheese pizza flavor that failed in prior taste tests. According to Tomi, foul flavors like Jelly Belly’s Skunk Spray and Barf have to be produced after hours to avoid consumer tour times. The midnight shift must be bitter.

Here on Candy.com, the best-selling Jelly Belly flavor is currently Berry Blue in a five-pound case. This may have something to do with the blue hue earning wedding palette kudos at TheKnot.com while wedding season is in full bloom.